Thought on Sadhana

Thought One

Just because we all know how to breathe it does not mean that we know how
to live. Just because most of us get married it does not mean that we know how to be
a good spouse. Just because, we have children it does not mean that we know how to be good
parents. Living, marrying and Parenting require 'Sadhana'.

There are no universal answers to the meaning of life. I like to
believe that it is a journey to the Source...its ups and downs are a
lesson...Yet all journeys start with the first step...the first step towards the
philosophic quest is the enquiry: "Athato Brahmn Jignasa"...

Then starts the sadhana,
which is the spiritual effort the seeker puts
in. The word sadhana is derived from the root word 'sidh' which means 'to be
accomplished' in 'seeking divinity' The quest starts 'out' (pravritti marg) and
must end 'in' (nivritti marg) and in the knowing that there is no
'separation'...

Some time ago, I spent two days on a Spiritual Sadhana Camp. A few
youngsters on the camp asked me what 'Sadhana' means. I explained that it meant 'Discipline' plus 'Perseverance'.

Whatever path of Spiritual Practice you prefer to belong to, be it 'Karma'
(The path of Righ Action), 'Bhakti' (The path of Devotion), Dhyaan (The path of Meditation) or 'Gyan' (The path of Knowledge),
'Japa' or chanting to still the mind, fasts, long ritualistic prayers, they are all Sadhanas.
They all require discipline and perseverance. The aim of Sadhana is Spiritual
uplift.

Scriptures prescribe five Maha Yajnas
(Supreme Spiritual Practices)

which may aid us in our Spiritual Movement.

Brahma or Rishi Yajna: Reflecting on
Scriptures, meditation and chanting.

Deva Yajna: Fire ritual in which
offerings are made to gods with recitation of mantras.

Atithi Yajna: hospitality towards
guests, travelers...

Pitri Yajna: Feeding the poor/priests
in honor of, and remembering fore-fathers who have passed on...

Balivaishva Yajna: feeding animals
and birds.

Shammi Paranjape says:

Continuity of practice
and regularity are important elements of sadhana; sporadic efforts will yield no
result. The goal is attained stage by stage. Avoid extremes and keep your
sadhana pleasant and moderate. The aim is to enlarge vision and enhance
experience, and not mortify the body.

If life
essentially is a pilgrimage to return to our own self, then sadhana is our means
to get there.

Our worldly works earn
us a living and our inner work (sadhana) earns us the bliss of an enlightened
life.

According to
Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev:

Meditation is a way of
manufacturing what we call ojas (subtler energies)...The quality,
intensity and volume of ojas makes the difference between one human being and
another. Why one person's presence seems to be strong and transforming, and
another's weak is simply because of the ojas he carries with him...

On Bhakti, Devotion, Love Sadhguru says:

Love essentially means
somebody else has become more important than yourself…The moment you say: “I
love you” you can no more do what you want in your life.

…Yet love is pleasant,
sweet, it drags you in…If you do not annihilate yourself, you will never know
love. Some part of you must die. If you don’t let this happen, there is no love,
only calculation…however if you get very unreasonable, the other person will
slowly back off…But devotion, bhakti is unreasonable love. It is one sided
madness. That is the beauty of loving God because you don’t have to have a
relationship—you can just love. And if you have a relationship. It’s all on your
terms…

When people don’t love
they are rigid…when they love, they are willing to surrender their likes,
dislikes…you could call it annihilation, liberation, destruction, nirvana…the
above is a fantastic spiritual process…

…The idea of looking up
and loving Krishna, loving Jesus, having something up there or loving a guru is
because you need not have any fear of entanglement from the other side. That is
the beauty of devotion. Without some sense of love in you, without some sense of
self-annihilation you cannot meditate. If you pull down the whole of what you
call as : “myself” you will become absolutely still and transcendent.

According to Sathya Sai
Baba, Sadhana is:

"Anything that
awakens the awareness of the universal, the infinite, the transcendental...and
any work which takes you out of your narrow self into the vaster
magnificence...Ideals must become higher and grander. Desires must become more
and more sublime. Attachment must be transmuted into nobler and subtler
emotions...